LONDON & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Wefarm,
the world’s largest farmer-to-farmer digital network, today announced
that it has secured $5 million in additional seed funding, led by
Silicon-Valley based True
Ventures. Skype and Atomico Founder Niklas Zennström (angel
investing in a personal capacity), WordPress Founder Matt Mullenweg,
Blue Bottle Coffee CEO Bryan Meehan, and the Norrsken Foundation, have
all joined the round, along with significant follow on investment from LocalGlobe
and Accelerated
Digital Ventures (ADV).

Wefarm is the world’s first crowdsourced peer-to-peer network for
offline communities. Over 500 million small-scale farmers produce over
70 percent of the world’s food and spend over $400 billion on farm
inputs and other services, annually. Yet, they are often ignored by the
global markets, services and leaders creating solutions to agricultural
problems. Wefarm is reversing that reality by placing the voices of
these farmers back into the heart of global agriculture.

Wefarm enables the world’s small-scale farmers – many of whom live in
remote areas without access to the internet – to connect with one
another to solve problems, share ideas, and spread innovation. Wefarm
solves a very simple problem for these farmers – where to get help. With
the world’s population projected to grow from seven to nine billion by
2050 and climate change showing no signs of abatement, alleviating
pressures on the global food supply chain is paramount.

Through Wefarm, farmers can ask questions in their own language on
anything related to agriculture, from battling a crop disease or an
infestation of army worm, to best practices for growing cash crops such
as maize, tomatoes, coffee and tea. Wefarm uses machine learning and the
power of the crowd to source the very best content and knowledge from a
network of over 660,000 farmers, even via SMS.

Wefarm is currently operating in Kenya and Uganda with plans to expand
into other areas of Eastern and Sub-Saharan Africa imminently. It has a
user retention rate of 90 percent and more than 30 percent of farmers
actively contribute their knowledge every month.

“We believe farmers are often the best and most relevant source of
information and experience for other farmers,” said Kenny Ewan, Founder
and CEO of Wefarm. “We’re proud to have created a network that empowers
the close to one million farmers who use our service, and we’re excited
to expand our reach and product capabilities this year.”

“Wefarm’s mission is incredible, and we’re ecstatic to support Kenny and
his team,” said Jon Callaghan, co-founder of True Ventures. “The company
democratizes technology, promotes the fluidity of information across an
entire segment of the food supply, and helps farmers become
more productive. Wefarm is the kind of movement True was designed for,
and we are excited to empower this business and mission for the world.”

Wefarm will use this round of funding to develop commercial product
offerings and build a new set of features. One such feature, which
aligns with Wefarm’s belief in putting the farmer first, is Wefarm’s Project
Farmlog – an interactive, “smart farming assistant” that works even
on feature phones. It will use machine learning to intelligently support
farmers both throughout the growing season and also with their
livestock, based on the questions they have asked.

“We invested in Wefarm because their innovative solution helps to
achieve the United Nation’s sustainable development goals,” said Anna
Ryott, Deputy CEO of the Norrsken Foundation. “It enables small farmers
to become more efficient, thereby directly contributing to the
eradication of hunger and poverty."

Wefarm’s data models will be able to track and predict keys issues, such
as disease, ripening periods, shortages, drought, soil conditions, farm
characteristics and many other vital supply chain issues. With this
data, businesses can improve supply chain management and security,
evaluate key trends and challenges, and increase sustainability and
transparency.

About Wefarm

Wefarm, the world’s largest farmer-to-farmer digital network, is a
social enterprise that lets small-scale farmers connect with one another
to solve problems, share ideas, and spread innovation. Utilising the
latest machine learning technology, Wefarm’s service works both online
and over SMS. Knowledge shared on Wefarm can help farmers produce higher
quality product, increase yields, gain insight into pricing, tackle the
effects of climate change, source the best seeds, fertiliser, and loans,
diversify agricultural interests, and more.

Since its founding in 2015, Wefarm has been named one of Africa’s Most
Innovative Companies by Fast
Company and has won Google’s Impact Challenge Award, TechCrunch’s
Europas Tech for Good Award, and the European Union Commission’s Ideas
from Europe prize, among others. The company is headquartered in London
with offices in Nairobi and Kampala. For more information, visit http://wefarm.org,
follow Wefarm on Twitter @wefarm
and connect with Wefarm on Facebook
or LinkedIn.

About True Ventures

Founded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital
firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With capital under
management in excess of $1.4 billion, True provides seed and Series A
funding to the most talented entrepreneurs in today’s fastest growing
markets. The firm maintains a strong founder community and offers
innovative educational opportunities to its portfolio, helping
entrepreneurs achieve higher levels of success and impact. With more
than 200 companies funded and multiple companies acquired, the current
True portfolio has helped create over 8,500 jobs. To learn more about
True Ventures, visit www.trueventures.com.

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